“ForestrySA have announced through their weekly paid workforce, people who work under the enterprise bargaining agreement, that they will be offering targeted voluntary separation packages in the amount of 60 which will need to be concluded by the end of the financial year,” he said.

“So those redundancies packages will be paid out at the current rate, not the reduced rate.

“They have 114 weekly paid employees, so 60 is over half of their weekly paid workforce.”

Forests Minister Leon Bignell said there would be no forced redundancies.

“The proposal offered to ForestrySA workers is fairer and more equitable by allowing staff who wish to leave and take advantage of the best available redundancy conditions,” he said.

ForestrySA Chief Executive Adrian Hatch said the organisation would provide services to support staff through the transition.

“It is a difficult time for our staff, many of whom have been working with the business for a long time, and we want to help them through this as well as we can,” he said.

Mr Coates said ForestrySA had told employees they would contract services out after employees are made redundant.

“We are really disappointed. We believe that more job losses for regional areas is bad for those local communities,” he said.

“It is also going to make it very difficult to maintain the current level of fire support and protection for those local communities.”

Mr Bignell said there was a strong base of private contractors in the state’s South East who would undertake the forest management work.

He said the changes would not affect ForestrySA staff in the state’s Mid-North.

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